Stories by John Dix

Red Hat CEO James Whitehurst kicked off the company’s Summit meeting in Boston this week, which attracted more than 6,000 people, up 20% from last year. Network World Editor in Chief John Dix caught up with Whitehurst at the show for an update on the company’s position and prospects.

Martin Casado, who helped launch the Software Defined Networking concept in the labs at Stanford, was recently elevated to the top business slot in VMware's Networking and Security Business Unit, giving him the rare opportunity to see the technology through from the incubator to the data center. Network World Editor in Chief John Dix sat down with Casado for an update on the company and his thoughts on how the technology is maturing.

Using the cloud to complement on-premise IT resources is one of the nirvana states envisioned for cloud computing, letting you architect for normal workloads and then burst to the cloud when necessary.

Technology advances have made it easier to detect subtle, anomalous end-user behavior, such as installation of unusual apps on endpoint devices, or suspicious deviations from baseline activity. This roundtable discussion examines methods to build monitoring, control and context into enterprise insider threat protection efforts – both when dealing with privileged users and regular employees.

Contact centers are changing rapidly with the arrival of cloud technology and the ability to interact with customers over new social channels, including Twitter. The transformation has implications for everything from how companies deal with customers to the role agents play and how internal groups are best organized. Network World Editor in Chief John Dix caught up with the CEO of LiveOps, Marty Beard, for his take on where we stand and where we're headed.

Many speakers at the VON conference in Boston are talking about what one called VOIP 2.0. If VOIP 1.0 was all about inexpensive calls, 2.0 is about integration and new applications, said Brad Garlinghouse, vice president of communications products at Yahoo.&quot;VOIP by itself isn't it,&quot; he said. &quot;It's all about new functionality.&quot; By way of example, he cited a capability Yahoo supports in the U.K. through a deal with BT. When customers are in the office they can have calls to their home sound an alert at work, and they can either answer, block or route the calls.

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